Vanished
by TheLovelyWren
Summary: When Vince is on a stake out waiting for Scales' new drug shipment, he is attacked and captured, vanishing off the radar, and it is up to Max, his Circus and Orwell to find him before its too late.


Vanished

Vince crouched low behind a stack of wood crates at the dock. The pungent smell of dead fish wafted over to him with the chilling breeze. Ugh! He wrinkled his nose. All he needed now was just someone to say 'what could be worse?' and some rain would come pouring down. Thunder clapped suddenly overhead and sprinkles started to drop all around him. _Of course, because that isn't cliché at all._ The rain and wind kicked up.

A curse fled his mouth as he pulled the cape tighter around his shoulders. Coughing in to his sleeve he spoke into his ear piece. "Are you sure this is the right place, Orwell?" His voice was rough and scratchy. A sneeze erupted from him.

Her voice came back over in the comm. link. _"Of course I am sure. Have I ever been wrong before Vince?"_

Clearing his throat he replied, "First time for everything"

There was a huff on the other end. He grinned, wryly. Turning his attention back to the dock, he spotted several trucks pull up. He narrowed his eyes watching as they parked with their facing away from the boats. "Guess you were right once again." Men got out and started to unload boxes in the backs of the vehicles on to a waiting boat. "Bingo. There are about seven men doing the heavy lifting and 4 ARK guards walking the perimeter."

A black Mercedes came in to view, waiting in the shadows. _Chess._

"_Take out the four guards first. They're the ones you should worry about before the workmen."_

"Got it." He disappeared in to the mist and appeared next to one of the soldiers. Before he could react, Vince elbowed him in the forehead. He slumped over unconscious. Vince pulled him behind a crate where he would not be found for a while. Disappearing again he repeated the process with two more guards until only one remained.

He hid watching for the last to appear and continue his patrol but they never came. "Orwell, can you track the last ARK soldier. I got the first few but the other is hiding somewhere."

"_I'm checking now. That's weird. He is right on top of you. You sure you don't see him?"_

"Positive." He started to say, when something smashed into the back of his skull. Stars danced in front of his vision. Moaning he dropped to his hands and knees. A foot kicked him directly in the ribs. He tasted blood in his mouth and spit it out on the ground. A stronger force hit him again in the same spot sending him flying through the air. His body smashed seconds later in to the side of one of the semi trucks, creating a large dent in the side.

He heard multiple loud cracks, his sides were on fire. He clutched his head with his hands trying to block out a hot white pain that began to burn in to his brain. Vince was faintly aware of Orwell crying his name through his ear piece. But his mouth would respond to her pleas for him to reply.

Hands roughly gripped his front and jerked him upward and slammed him in to the vehicle again. Scales' face was inches from his own. "You, again. Did you enjoy the nice swim last time we met? I have something better in store for you this time." He sneered.

"Wait." Another voice intervened. "Don't kill him. No, death would be too gentle. What about something more… intricate?"

Turning his head to the side, Vince blinked through the red haze at a shadowed figure as they stepped forward and revealed themselves. "Hello, Cape." Chess grinned falsely. Then everything went black as something sharp stuck in to his arm and a cool liquid entered his veins.

Orwell, yelled Vince's name countless times. She heard punches being thrown and someone groaning. "Vince!"

Still no answer. Something shuffled on the other end. Then a dark, malicious voice entered her ear. "Hello, Orwell. Been waiting to talk to you for a long time. I have your Cape here with me. Say your farewells to him now for you will not be seeing him for a very long time." There were chuckles and then… static. Before she decided to panic she checked his location on her monitor but there was none. Not anywhere. It was like he just disappeared. Vanished in to thin air and never reappeared.

Orwell stifled a gasp. Crap! With out hesitation she ran from the building and to her car. She knew she didn't have a choice, Vince's life was in danger. To the circus it was.

When she pulled around the back Rollo was already waiting for her. "Hey sweet cakes, what are you doing back here? Vince isn't here yet-"

"I know. Where's Max?" she cut him off midsentence.

Rollo jerked his head inside the tent for her to follow him. Max was watching Raia perform while drinking a glass of campaign. "Julia," he cried when he spotted her and motioned her over. "what a pleasant surprise! Your back early. I was waiting for you to come home. I have something to show you!"

It was only then did she notice someone sitting beside him. Gregor Molotov. _What is he doing here?_ Max pulled her back out of the tent and whispered a quick 'occupy him' to Rollo before they went to his trailer. Once the door was securely shut and locked, he turned on her.

"Where's Vince? Something tells me that there's something wrong." Max struck the chord instantaneously. Orwell nodded.

"he was waiting for a shipment that scales was receiving at the Warf. He was attacked and his tracer was lost. It just vanished off the face of the grid. It's like he isn't anywhere in the world."

His head woke him first. A deep throbbing like a slow drum line. He moaned and tried to open his eyes. A blinding light above brought a more fierce pain behind his eyes. Crying out he moved his hands to dig the heels of his palms in to his eye sockets. "Aah. Ugh." Vince mumbled. It was times like these when he wished he carried some ibuprofen with him at all times. Vince chuckled grimly. All of a sudden soft fingers began to rub slow, gentle circles along his temples. He sighed as the pain numbed a little.

"Are you alright?" A very familiar voice whispered in his ear. Too familiar. His eyes snapped open. He could not keep back the shocked feeling that arose deep with in. Dana sat in person, a foot away from him, still dressed in her business suit, her hair falling wildly around her shoulders.

"Dana," he breathed.

"Excuse me?" Her brow furrowed.

Vince realized his mistake and corrected himself. "I'm fine. Are you hurt?" Dana shook her head. A silence overtook them, and it wasn't strained as he thought it would be. He took the time to glance around the room. It was a plain large cement cell with high ceilings. A storage room. Meaning that they were still at the Warf. A pair of handcuff was tightened on one hand and connected him to a pipe running up the wall into the ceiling. Perfect. The door that led from the room was metal and there was a window a foot above it leading in the hallway. Other than that, there was no other way of escape.

"You are Dana Faraday?" He said to her after a few moments.

She swallowed and nodded. "Yes. You are the guy who kept showing up at my house and talking to my son on the roof."

He winced. Now that someone had said that aloud he realized how weird that sounded.

"Trip said you talked to him about… about Vi- my husband." Her bottom lip trembled.

Vince nodded. "I have known your husband for a while now. He wanted me to pass on some information to you."

"So he really is al-" they had been talking in hushed whispers until now when Dana raised her voice but caught herself. "He is alive?" Tears formed in her eyes when the cape confirmed her question with another nod of his head.

"He gave me a message to tell you both that he loves you more than you know and that he hopes to seen you sometime soon." Before he could whisper more to her the door to the room opened. Chess walked in with scales and the four ARK guards that he faced the day before.

"The cape? You are not very imaginative with your name are you, Cape?" Vince could hear the mockery in Chess' voice.

Vince didn't reply.

Going on chess said, "My men say that you escaped after being wrapped up in chains and tossed in to the sea, you survived after jumping out a building and being poisoned. You are a great escape artist are you not?" While He was saying this he gradually walked forward until he was directly in front of him. Chess kneeled down to eye level with Vince. "Even the great Houdini could not escape death, cape. Let's see if you can get out of this one." Before He could comprehend what was happening Chess lashed out with syringe and stuck it in to Vince's arm.

Vince jerked his arm away. But it was too late. "What did you give him?" Dana cried.

Chess and his men laughed and backed out of the room. "Try your disappearing act and see." Then the door was slammed shut and bolted.

"What did he mean by that?" Dana whispered.

Vince glanced at her "I don't know. Guess there's a way to find out." He tried to disappear when a surge of electricity flowed through him. The electrocution was not something he was expecting. He yelled and grabbed his head. The pain flow was too great and just like that the world went black.


End file.
